Cheshire cat

noun

Chesh·​ire cat ˈche-shər- 

: a broadly grinning cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Examples of Cheshire cat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The conductor is petite with large, expressive eyes and a Cheshire cat’s smile. — Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2026

Indeed, some monsters are seated across the table, Cheshire cat grinning in florals. — Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 12 Dec. 2025

But even through all those extravagant choices, Carrey’s teeth stick to your brain like the Cheshire cat’s smile. — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2024

In the quantum Cheshire cat experiments, a weak measurement is made along a path in the interferometer, the paths then merge, and the emerging particles are measured with an ordinary detector. — Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 9 Sep. 2024

Might Trump prove to be a flash in the pan who disappears like the Cheshire cat without even a smile in Alice in Wonderland? — Armstrong Williams, Baltimore Sun, 8 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Cheshire, England

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Cheshire cat

• aristocrat
• magnificat
• acrobat
• autocrat
• automat
• bundesrat
• bureaucrat
• butterfat
• caveat
• chemostat
• copycat
• cryostat